Socialist Party of England (Committee for an International Alliance of Labour)

Following on from the post where I put up the IngSoc flag alongside all the potential Fascist flags, I've decided that I may as well do the same with the Socialist side as I have (theoretically at least) with the Fascists in my version of the VBCW.

So, Socialist groups in the VBCW...

There is of course the organisation that becomes IngSoc/'The Party' of 1984. There are several versions of this flag and logo, the most common from the 1984 movie which came out in 1984 (there doesn't seem to be much from the 1956 version). Googling IngSoc produces multiple (different) images and logos. IngSoc stands for 'English Socialism', which may imply something called the English Socialist Party or Socialist Party of England... though it may not relate to the name of 'The Party' at all. Perhaps, it's the English Socialist Movement at this point. Either way, different IngSoc factions might have their own flags or banners. I like the invented name that I've entitled this post - "Socialist Party of England (Committee for an International Alliance of Labour)". Left-wing groups do like their alphabet-soup, and there are real organisations with worse sets of initials than this.

The leaders of IngSoc are 'Big Brother' and Emmauel Goldstein. According to Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: the Black Dossier, Big Brother is the codename of a British Intelligence operative who infiltrates the Labour Party and precipitates the revolution after WWII - this is Harry Wharton from the Billy Bunter stories, who was at Greyfriars in 1908. By the end of 1945, Wharton would be about 53, so in 1938 (the 'year zero' of VBCW), he'd be about 45-ish, and would presumably look something like Big Brother. There is a Jewish shopkeeper in the series When the Boat Comes In, called 'Manny' Goldstein, who is assaulted by the Blackshirts. Of course, he may as well be the revolutionary leader Emmanuel Goldstein, as Manny is short for Emmanuel. He's about 55 in 1937 or there abouts, as the action of the later episodes of fourth season of WtBCI takes place simultaneously with the War in Spain. By the time of the IngSoc revolution, he must be about 65.

The first of the images below is the 'standard' version from the 1984 film. I guess the others are different fan versions. They all feature a V sign, which is interesting.

Apart from IngSoc... from Jeeves and Wooster, there are the Heralds of the Red Dawn, a socialist group existing in 1922 ('Comrade Bingo'). They include Charlotte Corday Rowbotham, her father (unnamed beyond being called Rowbotham) and Comrade (also unnamed) Butt. Very briefly, 'Bingo' Little, nephew of Lord Bittlesham, joins the group out of infatuation with Charlotte. Interesting that Charlotte Corday Rowbotham is named after an assassinatrix from the French Revolution. In the TV series (but not the books), the Heralds of the Red Dawn get in a fight with the Saviours of Britain at Goodwood, which implies it is much later, as The Saviours of Britain don't appear in story-form until 1938, which puts them right at the outset of the VBCW. This could mark an early outing for the Saviours of Britain, or a late survival for the Heralds of the Red Dawn. But if the Saviours of Britain are around in the timeframe of the VBCW, then the Heralds of the Red Dawn might be too.

There are no images I can find for the banners of the Heralds of the Red Dawn, unfortunately. They don't seem to have made as much of an impact as Spode and his Saviours of Britain. But anyway, I would expect that the older groups in IngSoc might have a flag similar to the fourth one shown here. I'm hoping that the 'Freedom is Slavery' etc won't show too clearly on a small flag. These are the slogans of the Party after it has long-since established its total control over Oceania, not the pre-revolutionary groups of 1938.

And that's it... no more Socialist or Communist groups that I can find. Perhaps most of my workers' militia units will be flying INGSOC flags then...